kevinhectoring

This is why under Rooney and LR we played lots of sideways and backwards football. Midfielders were not energetic enough and did not offer a forward pass option. It’s still a problem for us. Hourihane does not look for the ball as he should. And it’s not Max Bird’s strength.  
 
As for the long ball, if it’s all long-ball-down-the-middle then you need a Shearer or at least a Chris Martin. Which we don’t have.  We’ve been quite effective with the crossfield long ball (eg to NML, Barks also looks for it) which is less likely to lose possession. 
 
If you’ve got a balanced squad, surely mixing it up is hardest to play against 
 
 

Big Willy?

Will he know who it’s about? I doubt he’s been called Mr Osula in his entire life 

1. Most comments tend to relate to having control of the game (or not as the case may be). Long balls, to forwards to don't win the ball in the air very much is pointless as the ball ends up coming straight back and having to defend against another wave of attack, often without resetting in time.
2. The occasional long ball behind the defence is useful, but it has to be with purpose, not aimless into the corner with little chance of getting something from it.
3. A quick glance at the stats will show teams towards the bottom tend to have less of the ball than those at the top. This is shown by actually looking at the stats in more detail, where only 3 sides in the top half of the table are in the bottom 12 possession stats. Ipswich are the leaders in possession and are 2nd, whereas Morecombe are 24th in the table and 24th in the possession ranking. 
The other thing is, having possession doesn't mean you can't go long very often, just like having little of the ball doesn't mean you go long all the time. Yet, we see a similar trend. 5 out of the current top 6 are in the bottom 12 for long balls per pass attempt (Portsmouth are 13th lowest), whilst only 3 of the top 12 are in the top 12 for successful long passes per pass attempt.
You also have the belief that possession means fewer goals. However, there's a general trend of more possession = more goals. Ipswich are the obvious example, leading the charts in both, whereas Morecombe are bottom in both. Only 3 sides with less than 50% possession have scored more than 15 goals, whereas 6 with more than 50% have.
4. Since you're asking people if they want to stay in L1 for a long time or having a better chance of going up, the answer would be choosing the option which involves playing a possession based side with shorter passing.

The answer to the second question must be ‘no’ (I think there’s a separate 6 second rule that applies to the keeper).
 
Look forward to someone answering the first question. I suspect there’s no offence but that if anyone did it, the obstruction rule would be changed to cover it (don’t think it does at the moment) 

Who needs Hourihane and his match winners eh?

Based simply on the highlights, Osula looks a really good prospect. Two very well taken goals. He certainly will help push Sheff Utd’s promotion bid on after Christmas.

That's where plain stats can be a bit misleading though. Two of those shots were the penalties; one third of the remainder were from outside the area and iirc didn't trouble Wildsmith; half of them came after Collins was sent off, which is understandable as we were a player short; only 3 shots on target, including the 2nd penalty and the winning goal. Wildsmith made one save, a shot from distance that was straight at him. None before the sending off. 
I think allot of views have been distorted by the 32+6 minutes that followed the sending off. Port Vale handled that period well, DCFC didn't. We went "long" without the players to do so successfully. The game became messy, our tactics increasingly desperate. I don't think we were second best, or performing terribly before the SO : afterwards, we were, unquestionably. 

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Oiling the wheels of the midfield would be good ferrous. And teach JC the oxide rule 

Oiling the wheels of the midfield would be good ferrous. And teach JC the oxide rule 

I think it's more about balancing the midfield than individual quality.
Personally, I would drop Hourihane and bring in Smith or Rooney to allow Bird to play further forward, but I know that's not going to happen!

I think getting the team fitter should be a priority 

When fully fit, Smith has to start, we havent seen the best of him yet due to injury but now he is back training I would expect him to be back in the squad come Sat.
When fully fit the midfield 3 should be Smith & Knight with 1 of Bird & Hourihane. Then with Collins & McGoldrick upfront.

It would be the FA

No appeal from the Club I take it to this sending off. Not surprised. Collins should know better.

whether or not he meant to hit him, whether or not he did hit him, the fact is JC did something that would lead to a sending off by many of the best refs in the land. (Guy next to me was looking straight at him and the moment it happened said ‘red’.) Such a shame, works really hard, scores a goal Haarland would be proud of ... then that
As for Hourihane’s hand ball, by the time they’re his age most footballers have learned not to do anything that idiotic 
On the other ‘big decision’, the first penalty, what the ref did was pretty textbook: think, speak to the lino, who was close and had a clear view, then follow his advice. Not sure whether it was a pen and in retrospect the lino may not have had the best angle. But no one should be surprised by the ref’s thought process or the lino’s view
(yes apart from those there was a bunch of bad decisions)
the only thing the club should appeal is Stearman’s yellow (if that’s possible)

whether or not he meant to hit him, whether or not he did hit him, the fact is JC did something that would lead to a sending off by many of the best refs in the land. (Guy next to me was looking straight at him and the moment it happened said ‘red’.) Such a shame, works really hard, scores a goal Haarland would be proud of ... then that
As for Hourihane’s hand ball, by the time they’re his age most footballers have learned not to do anything that idiotic 
On the other ‘big decision’, the first penalty, what the ref did was pretty textbook: think, speak to the lino, who was close and had a clear view, then follow his advice. Not sure whether it was a pen and in retrospect the lino may not have had the best angle. But no one should be surprised by the ref’s thought process or the lino’s view
(yes apart from those there was a bunch of bad decisions)
the only thing the club should appeal is Stearman’s yellow (if that’s possible)

Well, there's certainly been a Crimea.
Theft of a match day thread.

it's amazing that players aren't told not to fall into his traps. His stock ruse is to show the oppo the ball then, when they go for it, to step between the two of them and get shoved in the back. He's got excellent balance and very quick feet so it's the easiest thing, and the ref has no choice. I think we've seen it 50 times 

it's amazing that players aren't told not to fall into his traps. His stock ruse is to show the oppo the ball then, when they go for it, to step between the two of them and get shoved in the back. He's got excellent balance and very quick feet so it's the easiest thing, and the ref has no choice. I think we've seen it 50 times 

Cashin could easily have been sent off last week.  

He’s becoming a fabulous footballer but he’s virtually a schoolboy and needs to focus on his improvement - don’t burden him with leadership roles 

It’s not a burden to the right person. Bellingham is captaining Dortmund at 19 and still constantly improving. 

No a crap ref got him the red.